DIY curious about a deck quote

[blakefan87 14]

Hi,

First off thanks for anyone who can answer my questions.

I have a modest 200sq ft deck attached to my new home. The previous owners took terrible care of it and it looks as if it hasn't been taken care of for many years.

Beautiful cedar is underneath 3 layers of cracked latex based paint. Stripping a small section proved pretty useless as the grain got in my way after what looked to be 2 layers came off. This left a slippery 3rd layer of paint between the grooves. My personal preference would be to sand the horizontal surfaces and leave the paint on the vertical surfaces which are in pretty good shape.

To get it sanded and re stained a) What would a good price be? and b) How many weekends am I looking at should I decide to do this myself?

Thanks again for any help I receive, its nice to have a website like this to seek advise so I have some know-how myself before I start making phone calls.

[RPetry 564]

a) just a guess without seeing the job, but ~ $1200 would be deemed reasonable here in NJ.

b) to do what? Strip and stain? One to strip, brighten, and sand. One to stain.

If you are down to the last layer of latex, a retail stripper product named Stripex-L made by Napier may do a decent job on removal.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

If you take on a job like this you will end up paying twice what it costs to get it done right. We undo homeowner damage all the time. What you are looking at, is considered to be advanced work. Find a company with references that has done this successfully before, and listen carefully when they tell you what you can and can't expect as a result.

Post pics - they help us.

Beth

[charlie 14]

Replace the boards it will be cheaper

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

That's a good suggestion too! ;)

Beth

[Adrian 155]

or, simply flip them, ( if possible) if not painted on the bottom as well.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

or, simply flip them, ( if possible) if not painted on the bottom as well.

...flipping can leave holes with splinter marks from where the board was removed. The customer needs to know up front. Most will opt for new boards rather than see the splinter marks near the nail holes.

Just my .02

Beth

[Adrian 155]

true true. Good point. never thought of that. Just a modest inexpensive fix suggestion. That's why I use wood screws and stain, but not everyone. You're right, new wood would ( ha ha ) look better. Just shootin' another option by.

New wood would ( ha ha) be better and new wood would be cheaper than a resto.

sorry, sometimes I'm so easily amused.

[RPetry 564]

Replace the boards it will be cheaper

Unless western red cedar is substantially cheaper in Wisconsin compared to NJ, not true. We are paying $3 a linear foot for 5/4 x 6 decking boards.

Add in the cost/time of demolition and installation, and stripping a final single coat of latex is peanuts.

[charlie 14]

He said in his posts that he wanted to remove the paint off the deck.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

To get it sanded and re stained a) What would a good price be?

If you run into a professional that will sand and restain just the horizontals at $3 per foot you would be sitting pretty. Expect more like $4-$6 though.

ps- if you can't find a reputable deck guy for your area on the low end of the above rates then you might consider asking an interior wood floor specialist if they can come sand it.

Edited August 21, 2008 by MMI Enterprises

[plainpainter 217]

I don't know many floor Sanders that would want to F' up their sanders on popping nails - good luck!

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Do we know if deck has screws or nails or if they are popped. Would be job of the professional to come check it out to see if deck is suitable candidate for sanding or not. A pro floor guy usually has a few different types of machines and likely has something they can throw at the rough jobs.

After palm nailing the nails just under surface level, I would go for it with the swing machine. Extreme warping creating unlevel transition from one board to the next is my main worry.

[blakefan87 14]

Since the last time I checked this I sunk the nails and borrowed a friends 150lb sander and went nuts on it. My thought was should I screw up I would replace the boards and not be disappointed about that.

Luckily enough for me the paint didn't even gunk up the sand paper and I got through the whole thing using only 3 belts.

What was left I stripped with a chemical and I plan on sanding with a hand held belt sander the tiny areas that are left.

The wood is looking really good and so far the project is only 20 hours and 100 bucks of supplies.

I feel like I got lucky, cant wait to finish and get stain on the thing.

[RPetry 564]

Blakefan87,

Hmm, 20 hrs. is a lot of time to strip and sand a 200 sq. ft. deck. But lets do the math, and see how much you lost or saved.

Just for comparison, let's say that to remove the old cedar and install new, it would take the exact amount of time, 20 hours. Probably not too far off if it took that long to prep the existing cedar. Good stainless steel fasteners, and stainless should be mandatory on cedar, might cost another $50. Compared to the $100 you have actually spent on prepping, you are now down $50.

Assuming decent grade western red cedar is the same cost in Wisc. as NU, your "true" cost is the cost of new wood. For a 200 sq. ft. deck floor, you would need ~400 linear ft. of 5/4 x 6 WRC at $3 per linear ft. That is $1200.

I would guesstimate that you have saved ~ $1150. Congrats!

[MudDuck 20]

Rick, are you saying it would take you 2 and 1/2 days to plank out a 10X20 floor with new boards? He spent 20 hrs thus far sand prepping (how much time spent on the original stripping?) and going to strip it again which will require sanding / de furing AGAIN. Remember he spent 20 hrs the first time w/ "150 lb sander". (I'm thinking thats a stand up swing type, 20 hrs?) and thats for just the FLOOR. And thats not the CEDAR verticals, which your going to leave OLD PAINT ON? Thats a crime in and of itself. Plus cost of stain and materials, add in the possible / probable screw up factor with the stain which is going to look like crap regardless with old painted verts. Once thats realized what are you going to do strip the verts? OK try to hand sand verts w/ 3 layers in good faith but theres another 40 hrs prior to realizing it fruitless and strip anyway and ruin the flooring and start all over again? To save $1150.00? No to save about $500-750.00 (cash not the 40-50+ hrs time) at that point, to only then have someone come out and do it all again. Say all goe's well, how much is 40-50 hrs of your time (plus several $100's materials) for an average looking DIY'er job worth vs having a pro come out do it right in 3 days for 1200?

If your going to do a beautiful CEDAR deck you have to do it right, top to bottom or you will not be happy. Old painted verticals on newly sanded stained cedar floor? It'll take about 15 minutes before he realizes he should have done it all and "I aint doing that again" and pays to have it done AGAIN. Again what has he saved?

Your going to have a 2500.00 odd looking OK DIY deck job when your done or a 3700.00ish WoW deck job that should have cost you only 1200.00 if you had only called a pro from the start. DIY is OK if you have the time but you have to do it right, not skipping any steps or you won't be happy. Doing just the floor is a bad idea and after realizing how hard this really is without experience and the right tools you will probably be more than willing to pay to have someone else do it next time, hence the extra 1200 tp 1500.00 on top of your job. Go through some of the pics here at some cedar decks and see how good they can look completly done right. Good luck.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Mud, he said 'belt' and '150 lb' so that would not be a swing machine. Use of either though should not take nearly any time close to 20 hour so I assume he means 20 hour total messing around on it with other procedures before he hit it with sander. 200' take nothin but a couple hour max with proper grit and machine setup.